Hamas said on Saturday it would escalate it attacks against
Israel to include a wider range of targets if the IDF failed to halt its aerial
assaults on the Gaza Strip.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri blamed Israel for an
escalation in violence. �If the Israeli escalation continues, amid international
silence and complicity, the reactions by resistance factions will broaden,� he
told Reuters, saying such actions would be necessary to protect Palestinians in
Gaza.

Abu Zuhri also said that Hamas operatives did not intend to
target Israeli schoolchildren when they fired a rocket at a bus two days ago,
critically wounding a teenager and sparking the latest round of border fighting.

�It was not known that the bus targeted on the outskirts of
Gaza carried schoolchildren,� spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, adding that
the road where the bus was travelling was often used by IDF vehicles.

On Friday, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that
�Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip will not be able to break the will of the
Palestinian people.�

He also called for the cessation of IDF attacks in Gaza.

On Thursday night, Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip
declared a unilateral cease fire some hours after it shot a school bus with an
guided anti-tank missile and fired dozens of mortar shells and projectiles. The
attack on the school bus left a 16-year-old in critical condition.

The IDF, however, continued to strike back at targets despite
the Palestinian attempt to calm the situation.

Since then, over 20 Grad-model Katyusha rockets have been
fired by Gaza-based groups into Israel. The IDF�s Iron Dome anti-rocket defense
system successfully intercepted several of the longer-range Grads. Dozens more
Kassam rockets and mortar shells have exploded in Israeli territory over the
weekend.

According to Palestinian reports, at least 16 Palestinians
have been killed in recent days by IDF strikes aimed at Hamas and other
terrorist elements in the Strip. At least 8, including a number of Hamas
commanders were confirmed as being members of terrorist groups. �